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Scientists Offer Dire Forecast for Earth
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| Scientists Offer Dire Forecast for Earth
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| Dirty South |
Scientists Offer Dire Forecast for Earth
Climate Report Warns of Global Warming Effects
By SETH BORENSTEIN
AP
WASHINGTON (March 10) - The harmful effects of global warming on daily life are already showing up, and within a couple of decades hundreds of millions of people won't have enough water, top scientists will say next month at a meeting in Belgium.
At the same time, tens of millions of others will be flooded out of their homes each year as the Earth reels from rising temperatures and sea levels, according to portions of a draft of an international scientific report obtained by The Associated Press.
Tropical diseases like malaria will spread. By 2050, polar bears will mostly be found in zoos, their habitats gone. Pests like fire ants will thrive.
For a time, food will be plentiful because of the longer growing season in northern regions. But by 2080, hundreds of millions of people could face starvation, according to the report, which is still being revised.
The draft document by the authoritative Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change focuses on global warming's effects and is the second in a series of four being issued this year. Written and reviewed by more than 1,000 scientists from dozens of countries, it still must be edited by government officials.
But some scientists said the overall message is not likely to change when it's issued in early April in Brussels, the same city where European Union leaders agreed this past week to drastically cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. Their plan will be presented to President Bush and other world leaders at a summit in June.
The report offers some hope if nations slow and then reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, but it notes that what's happening now isn't encouraging.
"Changes in climate are now affecting physical and biological systems on every continent," the report says, in marked contrast to a 2001 report by the same international group that said the effects of global warming were coming. But that report only mentioned scattered regional effects.
"Things are happening and happening faster than we expected," said Patricia Romero Lankao of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., one of the many co-authors of the new report.
The draft document says scientists are highly confident that many current problems -- change in species' habits and habitats, more acidified oceans, loss of wetlands, bleaching of coral reefs, and increases in allergy-inducing pollen -- can be blamed on global warming.
For example, the report says North America "has already experienced substantial ecosystem, social and cultural disruption from recent climate extremes," such as hurricanes and wildfires.
But the present is nothing compared to the future.
Global warming soon will "affect everyone's life ... it's the poor sectors that will be most affected," Romero Lankao said.
And co-author Terry Root of Stanford University said: "We truly are standing at the edge of mass extinction" of species.
The report included these likely results of global warming:
Hundreds of millions of Africans and tens of millions of Latin Americans who now have water will be short of it in less than 20 years. By 2050, more than 1 billion people in Asia could face water shortages. By 2080, water shortages could threaten 1.1 billion to 3.2 billion people, depending on the level of greenhouse gases that cars and industry spew into the air.
Death rates for the world's poor from global warming-related illnesses, such as malnutrition and diarrhea, will rise by 2030. Malaria and dengue fever, as well as illnesses from eating contaminated shellfish, are likely to grow.
Europe's small glaciers will disappear with many of the continent's large glaciers shrinking dramatically by 2050. And half of Europe's plant species could be vulnerable, endangered or extinct by 2100.
By 2080, between 200 million and 600 million people could be hungry because of global warming's effects.
About 100 million people each year could be flooded by 2080 by rising seas.
Smog in U.S. cities will worsen and "ozone-related deaths from climate (will) increase by approximately 4.5 percent for the mid-2050s, compared with 1990s levels," turning a small health risk into a substantial one.
Polar bears in the wild and other animals will be pushed to extinction. :(
At first, more food will be grown. For example, soybean and rice yields in Latin America will increase starting in a couple of years. Areas outside the tropics, especially the northern latitudes, will see longer growing seasons and healthier forests.
Looking at different impacts on ecosystems, industry and regions, the report sees the most positive benefits in forestry and some improved agriculture and transportation in polar regions. The biggest damage is likely to come in ocean and coastal ecosystems, water resources and coastal settlements.
The hardest-hit continents are likely to be Africa and Asia, with major harm also coming to small islands and some aspects of ecosystems near the poles. North America, Europe and Australia are predicted to suffer the fewest of the harmful effects.
"In most parts of the world and most segments of populations, lifestyles are likely to change as a result of climate change," the draft report said. "Net valuations of benefits vs. costs will vary, but they are more likely to be negative if climate change is substantial and rapid, rather than if it is moderate and gradual."
This report - considered by some scientists the "emotional heart" of climate change research - focuses on how global warming alters the planet and life here, as opposed to the more science-focused report by the same group last month.
"This is the story. This is the whole play. This is how it's going to affect people. The science is one thing. This is how it affects me, you and the person next door," said University of Victoria climate scientist Andrew Weaver.
Many - not all - of those effects can be prevented, the report says, if within a generation the world slows down its emissions of carbon dioxide and if the level of greenhouse gases sticking around in the atmosphere stabilizes. If that's the case, the report says "most major impacts on human welfare would be avoided; but some major impacts on ecosystems are likely to occur."
The United Nations-organized network of 2,000 scientists was established in 1988 to give regular assessments of the Earth's environment. The document issued last month in Paris concluded that scientists are 90 percent certain that people are the cause of global warming and that warming will continue for centuries. |
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| GnarlyBarkley |
run, global warming will kill us all!!!
didn't scientists also conclude that margarine was better for you than butter? they're proving eachother wrong everyday. |
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| SummerSnow |
| How will this affect my tan? |
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| h100+101 |
| :lol: at the story, global cooling is the death of us, not warming, theyre all wrong |
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| SoCalJeff |
| Any chicks wanna fuck?? |
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| Stjtoday |
| The new ice age is coming? |
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| h100+101 |
| buy your symbols people, ill see ya on the mothership |
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| h100+101 |
Quote: Originally posted by Dirty South
North America, Europe and Australia are predicted to suffer the fewest of the harmful effects. |
:bigclap: yeeeah! |
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| SummerSnow |
| As long as my tv reception isnt interrupted, then it's all good. |
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| strongside |
| I wonder if I can still apply for Ice Age insurance or should I just splurge and buy the Apocaplyse package. |
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| SummerSnow |
Quote: Originally posted by strongside
I wonder if I can still apply for Ice Age insurance or should I just splurge and buy the Apocaplyse package. |
A man with a great sense of humor is incredibly sexy. |
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| Dirty South |
Quote: Originally posted by h100+101
:bigclap: yeeeah! |
:lol: |
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| lesbian seagull |
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| strongside |
| At the very end a great sense of humor and a few good people around us may be all we have left to count on. - |
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| Dirty South |
Quote: Originally posted by lesbian seagull
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I bolded the most harrowing/pertinent parts of the article in the hope of avoiding that very Afro-American's visage. |
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| edfarst |
| man made global warming is a lie |
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| bababooey2uall |
| the shit won't hit th fan during our lifetimes although fighting global warming will probably make the prices of all kinds of things go up. You know big business isn't going to take a hit and they'll just raise prices for fuel, etc. |
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| SummerSnow |
| I live in Maine..WOULD THE FREAKIN' GLOBAL WARMING FRIGGIN' HURRY UP?? |
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| bababooey2uall |
Quote: Originally posted by edfarst
man made global warming is a lie |
Hmmm....who I should believe? You or a bunch of Nobel-prize winning scentists who have no ulterior motives when they say it is man-made? |
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| GnarlyBarkley |
don't want to go off topic, since global warming is soooo important but i saw your sig DirtySouth and had to rub it in a little
GO GATORS!
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| suddz |
| Fucking tree huggers :rolleyes: |
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| imagine966 |
Quote: Originally posted by Dirty South
Scientists Offer Dire Forecast for Earth
Climate Report Warns of Global Warming Effects
By SETH BORENSTEIN
AP
WASHINGTON (March 10) - The harmful effects of global warming on daily life are already showing up, and within a couple of decades hundreds of millions of people won't have enough water, top scientists will say next month at a meeting in Belgium.
At the same time, tens of millions of others will be flooded out of their homes each year as the Earth reels from rising temperatures and sea levels, according to portions of a draft of an international scientific report obtained by The Associated Press.
Tropical diseases like malaria will spread. By 2050, polar bears will mostly be found in zoos, their habitats gone. Pests like fire ants will thrive.
For a time, food will be plentiful because of the longer growing season in northern regions. But by 2080, hundreds of millions of people could face starvation, according to the report, which is still being revised.
The draft document by the authoritative Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change focuses on global warming's effects and is the second in a series of four being issued this year. Written and reviewed by more than 1,000 scientists from dozens of countries, it still must be edited by government officials.
But some scientists said the overall message is not likely to change when it's issued in early April in Brussels, the same city where European Union leaders agreed this past week to drastically cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. Their plan will be presented to President Bush and other world leaders at a summit in June.
The report offers some hope if nations slow and then reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, but it notes that what's happening now isn't encouraging.
"Changes in climate are now affecting physical and biological systems on every continent," the report says, in marked contrast to a 2001 report by the same international group that said the effects of global warming were coming. But that report only mentioned scattered regional effects.
"Things are happening and happening faster than we expected," said Patricia Romero Lankao of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., one of the many co-authors of the new report.
The draft document says scientists are highly confident that many current problems -- change in species' habits and habitats, more acidified oceans, loss of wetlands, bleaching of coral reefs, and increases in allergy-inducing pollen -- can be blamed on global warming.
For example, the report says North America "has already experienced substantial ecosystem, social and cultural disruption from recent climate extremes," such as hurricanes and wildfires.
But the present is nothing compared to the future.
Global warming soon will "affect everyone's life ... it's the poor sectors that will be most affected," Romero Lankao said.
And co-author Terry Root of Stanford University said: "We truly are standing at the edge of mass extinction" of species.
The report included these likely results of global warming:
Hundreds of millions of Africans and tens of millions of Latin Americans who now have water will be short of it in less than 20 years. By 2050, more than 1 billion people in Asia could face water shortages. By 2080, water shortages could threaten 1.1 billion to 3.2 billion people, depending on the level of greenhouse gases that cars and industry spew into the air.
Death rates for the world's poor from global warming-related illnesses, such as malnutrition and diarrhea, will rise by 2030. Malaria and dengue fever, as well as illnesses from eating contaminated shellfish, are likely to grow.
Europe's small glaciers will disappear with many of the continent's large glaciers shrinking dramatically by 2050. And half of Europe's plant species could be vulnerable, endangered or extinct by 2100.
By 2080, between 200 million and 600 million people could be hungry because of global warming's effects.
About 100 million people each year could be flooded by 2080 by rising seas.
Smog in U.S. cities will worsen and "ozone-related deaths from climate (will) increase by approximately 4.5 percent for the mid-2050s, compared with 1990s levels," turning a small health risk into a substantial one.
Polar bears in the wild and other animals will be pushed to extinction. :(
At first, more food will be grown. For example, soybean and rice yields in Latin America will increase starting in a couple of years. Areas outside the tropics, especially the northern latitudes, will see longer growing seasons and healthier forests.
Looking at different impacts on ecosystems, industry and regions, the report sees the most positive benefits in forestry and some improved agriculture and transportation in polar regions. The biggest damage is likely to come in ocean and coastal ecosystems, water resources and coastal settlements.
The hardest-hit continents are likely to be Africa and Asia, with major harm also coming to small islands and some aspects of ecosystems near the poles. North America, Europe and Australia are predicted to suffer the fewest of the harmful effects.
"In most parts of the world and most segments of populations, lifestyles are likely to change as a result of climate change," the draft report said. "Net valuations of benefits vs. costs will vary, but they are more likely to be negative if climate change is substantial and rapid, rather than if it is moderate and gradual."
This report - considered by some scientists the "emotional heart" of climate change research - focuses on how global warming alters the planet and life here, as opposed to the more science-focused report by the same group last month.
"This is the story. This is the whole play. This is how it's going to affect people. The science is one thing. This is how it affects me, you and the person next door," said University of Victoria climate scientist Andrew Weaver.
Many - not all - of those effects can be prevented, the report says, if within a generation the world slows down its emissions of carbon dioxide and if the level of greenhouse gases sticking around in the atmosphere stabilizes. If that's the case, the report says "most major impacts on human welfare would be avoided; but some major impacts on ecosystems are likely to occur."
The United Nations-organized network of 2,000 scientists was established in 1988 to give regular assessments of the Earth's environment. The document issued last month in Paris concluded that scientists are 90 percent certain that people are the cause of global warming and that warming will continue for centuries. |
Can somebody condense this. I couldn't get past the second sentance. Booorrrriiiinnnggg |
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| SummerSnow |
Quote: Originally posted by suddz
Fucking tree huggers :rolleyes: |
SAVE THE OWLS!!!!!! |
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| Dirty South |
Quote: Originally posted by GnarlyBarkley
don't want to go off topic, since global warming is soooo important but i saw your sig DirtySouth and had to rub it in a little
GO GATORS!
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Hmm, don't blame you in the least, Gnarly. We're all ready to "Drain the Tub" here in Wildcat-land. It's a sad time to be a UK bball fan right now.
And don't worry, I won't mention our 7 national titles or our 29 SEC titles or the fact that we have the most wins in NCAA history. ;)
We suck right now, and UK fans will be first to tell ya that.
But enjoy Billy D this March b/c he'll be in Lexington next year!! :lol: :pray: |
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| focker |
| tree huggin hippie crap.. the jews are gonna get us. |
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| suddz |
Quote: Originally posted by SummerSnow
SAVE THE OWLS!!!!!! |
:lol: |
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| MetalliChris |
Quote: Originally posted by edfarst
man made global warming is a lie |
Man. I love how "edfarst" knows this above scientists. You should let them know and deliver a presentation on this info.
Well, "MetalliChris" says he's gonna listen to the world's scientists. I mean, what would they really have to gain by telling us that we may be fucking ourselves. Throughout the centuries the end of the world was predicted via religion and folklore. Now we have some science and people seem more put off by that than religious musings.
But bring it on, I say. |
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| fatboy |
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| The Terminator |
| Well, the president is doing his job to reduce emissions.....by raising the price of gas so high that nobody but rich people will be driving anymore |
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| SUGNUSICILIANO! |
Quote: Originally posted by imagine966
Can somebody condense this. I couldn't get past the second sentance. Booorrrriiiinnnggg |
I think the spelling error says it all here... |
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| nightjob |
Quote: Originally posted by SummerSnow
I live in Maine..WOULD THE FREAKIN' GLOBAL WARMING FRIGGIN' HURRY UP?? |
:aw: :jj: |
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| UrinalCake |
| And the responses so far to the original post are why our children are fucked. Society doesn't give a shit as long as they have their air conditioning & SUVs!! |
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| Dirty South |
Quote: Originally posted by UrinalCake
And the responses so far to the original post are why our children are fucked. Society doesn't give a shit as long as they have their air conditioning & SUVs!! |
Sad, true, and very unfortunate. :( |
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| NickNuke |
Wrong!!
The earth will be just fine.
It's mankind that's in peril. Once the earth finishes it's population enema, it will stabilize itself. |
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| MLBoros72s |
Quote: Originally posted by NickNuke
Wrong!!
The earth will be just find.
It's mankind that's in peril. Once the earth finishes it's population enema, it will stabilize itself. |
Of course! The earth will be just "find" and our global enema will save us all. |
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| NickNuke |
Quote: Originally posted by MLBoros72s
Of course! The earth will be just "find" and our global enema will save us all. |
banana fingers. |
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| MLBoros72s |
Quote: Originally posted by NickNuke
banana fingers. |
It happens when you handle many phallic objects |
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| Bist Meshugeh |
| I laugh at the idiots that think we control the earth and her warmth or cold, mom earth could let out one big fart at Yellowstone and all of mankind would be dead in days. |
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| Ass Boil |
Quote: Originally posted by Bist Meshugeh
I laugh at the idiots that think we control the earth and her warmth or cold, mom earth could let out one big fart at Yellowstone and all of mankind would be dead in days. |
No one said we "control" it, you dummy. But we can AFFECT our climate. Only a fucking retard doesn't know that by now. |
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| A mysterius man |
Quote: Originally posted by Bist Meshugeh
I laugh at the idiots that think we control the earth and her warmth or cold, mom earth could let out one big fart at Yellowstone and all of mankind would be dead in days. |
All of mankind? Flair for the dramatic, much?
And by the way, nice bit of necromancy here. |
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| NickNuke |
Quote: Originally posted by Ass Boil
No one said we "control" it, you dummy. But we can AFFECT our climate. Only a fucking retard doesn't know that by now. |
YES!! Carbon Offsets!!
Mother Earth accepts all form of Credit Cards. |
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| CrackHead_Fan |
| Can anyone tell me a time where scientists HAVEN'T offered dire forecasts for the Earth? |
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| Ass Boil |
Quote: Originally posted by CrackHead_Fan
Can anyone tell me a time where scientists HAVEN'T offered dire forecasts for the Earth? |
You aren't very bright, are you? |
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| DUDE-HERE |
good
there are too many fucking people on earth as it is |
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| Ass Boil |
Quote: Originally posted by DUDE-HERE
good
there are too many fucking people on earth as it is |
You can get off anytime ;) |
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